


Degrassi: The Next Next Generation

by BlackSansaStark, drianca211



Series: The Elarisol Universe [6]
Category: Degrassi
Genre: Barbacue, Canada Day, Ensemble Cast, Family Fluff, Future Fic, Multi, Multiple crackships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:27:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29787123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackSansaStark/pseuds/BlackSansaStark, https://archiveofourown.org/users/drianca211/pseuds/drianca211
Summary: In the year 2030, Eli and Marisol host a Canada Day gathering for their Degrassi classmates and their families at their mansion.
Relationships: Alli Bhandari/Dave Turner, Bianca DeSousa/Drew Torres, Clare Edwards/Adam Torres, Connor DeLaurier/Jenna Middleton, Eli Goldsworthy/Marisol Lewis, Fiona Coyne/Imogen Moreno, Jake Martin/Katie Matlin, Miles Hollingsworth III/Maya Matlin
Series: The Elarisol Universe [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1767046
Kudos: 3





	1. Drianca

July 1, 2030  
The guests would be arriving any minute.

Marisol was trying her best not to freak out. But it was hard. This was the biggest gathering she and Eli had ever thrown, let alone the first one at their new house. All of their friends from high school were coming over with their kids to celebrate Canada Day. According to the RSVP list, there were going to be 29 people in the house today, including themselves.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t feeling the pressure.

“Are you sure everything’s ready?” she asked Eli, pacing around their exceptionally large kitchen. It was easily her favorite part of the house, with backsplash walls, a marble-topped island, and a built in TV screen. The cabinets, counters, and floors shined even without the light beaming from the pendants overhead. It was, frankly, the perfect kitchen. A perk of a makeup mogul marrying a movie director.

But right now, she was too distracted to really appreciate her surroundings. If anything, she was being more critical of them. Was it possible the floor needed one more touch up…

“Yeah, we’ve got enough food to last us until Thanksgiving,” Eli pointed out. The two of them, with a little help from their oldest daughter, Alex, had spent hours that morning and the night before putting together snacks for the event. Salads, sandwiches, poutine, pretzels, veggie trays, cookies…and that didn’t even account for the barbecue that would be happening later or the items their friends had promised to bring.

“Not just the food,” Marisol insisted, still pacing. “Is there anything else we need to do outside? Or inside?” She surveyed the adjoining living room. “What do you think about the decorations?”

Eli followed her gaze, tilting his head thoughtfully. After a moment, he cupped his chin in his hand and said, “You know, I think the pillows could stand to be titled 0.03 degrees to the left.” His signature smirk, which somehow managed to be both attractive and irritating at the same time, spread across his face.

Marisol shot him a glare, letting him know she did not appreciate his joking around right now.

“Sorry,” he said, turning to face her. She rolled her eyes and looked away, but he got her to face him again by putting his hands on her shoulders. “Mare,” he added reassuringly. “The decorations look great. Everything looks great. This is gonna be the best Canada Day-slash-high school reunion ever, and it’s all thanks to your brilliant planning skills.”

He smiled, and she quickly found herself smiling back. That goofy grin, along with the simultaneous strength and softness of his voice, was part of the reason why she had fallen for him in the first place. And after she’d looked past the whole driving-a-hearse-to-school thing, she’d come to find that not only was he physically attractive (especially after he cut his hair), but he had an attractive personality, too. He was mysterious, but in an intriguing way. He was sarcastic, but in an endearing way. He was intelligent, but (usually), not in a show-offy way. And, by far her favorite quality of his, he was passionate.

Whether it was in his work, his family, or their relationship, Eli Goldsworthy gave everything his all. His hard work and dedication—and the genuine smile he wore through it all—was no doubt the sexiest thing about him.

And, ultimately, he was right in what he said. She did have crazy planning and design skills. A semester as student council president in high school and years of developing her own makeup line made Marisol much more than an amateur.

Her passion was what Eli loved most about her. Back in high school, even when he only saw her as a snobby, airheaded cheerleader, he couldn’t deny her determination. He once left his notebook in the locker room and walked into the gym during Power Squad practice to pick it up. He was impressed when he saw her get the entire group in line within seconds, and even more impressed when their routine at the pep rally the next day was flawless (he’d seen how rusty their pyramid was on his way back out). It became clear to him that Marisol Lewis did not play around when it came to her goals.  
And once he got to know her better, he had come to appreciate that side of her even more. She never gave up, accomplishing anything and everything she set her mind to. It was attractive and admirable at the same time. She was creative, like him, and although their talents manifested in different ways, she put just as much effort into her projects as he did into his. It was one of the main things they had connected over. And on top of all of that, she was smart, funny, and unbelievably gorgeous.

Eli slid his arm around his wife, who was currently towering over him thanks to the heels she was wearing. Every day, he thought about how grateful he was that his 17-year-old self had given the “ditzy cheerleader” a chance. And although she didn’t mention it much, Marisol felt the same way about the “emo freak.”

As the two held each other close, they looked around their house. Even when it wasn’t covered in red and white decor, maple leaves, and Canadian flags, it was an absolutely beautiful home. It was an absolutely beautiful life they’d made together. Two thriving careers, one outstanding house, four beautiful daughters, and two passionate people whose love for each other ran just as deep as it had twenty years ago.

They had worked hard for this life, and today they were going to show it off.

<><><><>

The doorbell rang a few minutes later.

“Come in!” Marisol hollered. She wondered who the first guests would be. She hadn’t heard anything about any of her friends’ whereabouts in a little over an hour, so this could literally be anyone.

“Heyyyy!” a familiar male voice sing-songed, practically echoing throughout the room. Marisol could tell who was at the door by the extra-ness of that call.

“Oh my god, hi, you guys!” she exclaimed, running up to greet Drew and Bianca Torres in the front hallway. The first thing she noticed—aside from the fact that both of them looked exactly the same as when she’d last seen them four years ago—was the baby carriage that Drew was rolling along next to him.

“Oh my god, is that the new baby?” she gasped.

“No, we just carry baby carriages around for the heck of it,” Drew replied.

Bianca rolled her eyes playfully and elbowed him, and then stepped forward to pull Marisol into a hug. “Hey, girl. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too,” Marisol said, temporarily distracted from the bundle of cuteness in front of her. She and Bianca weren’t best best friends (that spot was reserved for Katie and only Katie), but the two of them had gotten to know each other very well over the last few years. They’d come to find that they actually had a lot in common, including but not limited to the fact that both of their husbands spoiled their daughters.

Speaking of which…

“Can I please hold her?” Marisol begged, once the hug was over.

“Of course,” Bianca replied. Drew reached into the carriage, carefully picked up their newest addition, and handed her over to Marisol.

Marisol’s heart swelled. Aside from her own children, of course, this girl was one of the cutest babies she’d ever seen. She already had a full head of hair—curly, like Bianca’s—and her big, blue eyes were just so sweet and innocent.

“Her name’s Adrianna,” Drew supplied.

“Awww, I love it!” Marisol said without taking her eyes off of Adrianna. She couldn’t help it—it had been six years since she’d held a baby, and she’d forgotten how much she loved it. “Is she talking yet?”

“Not much,” Bianca replied. “She mostly just babbles. Although Drew insists she said ‘Dada’ the other day.” She glanced up at the ceiling in annoyance.

“What? She did.” Drew seemed irritated. “Just because you were out of the room doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

“I think you probably misheard,” Bianca said.

Marisol was no longer paying attention to their conversation. She was too busy talking to the baby. “Hi there!” she gushed.

As she continued fussing, Eli jumped up from the couch to greet their friends. “Hey, hey, how goes it?” he greeted, pulling Drew in for a bro-hug.

“It goes,” Drew replied.

Eli hugged Bianca next, and as he did, he noticed Drew and Bianca’s older daughter, Rosanna, standing next to her mother. Jesus, she had to be, what, nine now? The last time Eli had seen her, he was pretty sure she hadn’t even started school yet. Now she was half as tall as he was.

As he looked at her now, he realized that she was a perfect blend of both of her parents appearance-wise. She had Bianca’s long dark curls, but her eyes and her smile were 100% Drew. And, as Marisol came to realize when she finally noticed Rosanna a few seconds later, she had a good fashion sense going too. She was wearing a cute yellow sundress and a matching yellow flower hairpin.  
To think, the stars of Boiler Gate would eventually marry and have two daughters. Sometimes Eli and Marisol were reminded that their love story was not the weirdest at Degrassi.

“So, we have beer in the car," Bianca informed them. "And we also brought a casserole..." She reached into the bag that had been wrapped around her arm this whole time and pulled out a rectangular shaped container. “We pre-baked it, so that there wouldn’t be as much work.”

“Smart choice,” Eli said, taking it off her hands. He went to take the dish to the kitchen.

“What kind is it?” Marisol wanted to know. She reluctantly handed Adrianna back to Drew after noticing the impatient look on his face. He gently placed her back in the carriage.

For some reason, Drew and Bianca exchanged an odd glance. After a moment, Bianca explained, “It’s just a random recipe Audra gave us.” She shrugged. “We don’t actually know what it is.”

“Ah.” What Marisol really wanted to say was "wow, that’s super weird," but instead she kept her mouth shut and focused on Rosanna. “Hi, there,” she said again, but this time in her normal voice. “How are you?”

“I’m good,” Rosanna answered with a small smile. “How are you?”

“I’m doing great.” And she absolutely was.

“Hey, guys, what kind of casserole is that exactly?” Eli asked, returning from the kitchen.

Drew and Bianca both just shrugged.

“They don’t know,” Marisol explained. “It was just a random recipe Drew’s mom gave them.”

“Wow, that’s super weird.” Eli raised his eyebrows.

Rosanna, meanwhile, had taken to looking around the place. “Wow, your house is way bigger than ours,” she observed. “You guys must be really rich.”

“Rosie!” Drew and Bianca exclaimed at the same time. Rosanna just turned to look at her parents innocently.

“Sorry,” Bianca apologized. “She speaks without thinking sometimes.”

“Wonder where she gets that from,” Eli quipped, looking at Drew. Unamused, Drew pursed his lips.

“So, where’s Dawn?” Rosanna asked next. She had always gotten along well with Eli and Marisol’s daughter, Dawn, as they were roughly the same age and had many similar interests.

“She’s in her room,” Eli said, deciding now would be a good time to call his kids down. He headed over to the spiral staircase and shouted, “Hey, girls, come on down now! The guests are arriving.”

On cue, a stampede of footsteps thundered from upstairs. Eli and Marisol’s four daughters, Alex, Dawn, Evie, and Wilma quickly came into view. They ran down the stairs excitedly and took turns hugging Drew, Bianca, and Rosie, and then they all started gushing over Adrianna.

Once the formalities were done, the girls were ready to begin their hangout. “Can we go play?” Rosie asked.

“Yeah, go for it,” Drew replied.

“Just make sure you stay where Eli and Marisol want you,” Bianca added.

“They can go wherever right now,” Eli said. “We’ll just have them come back down when more people show up.”

“Sweet,” Drew said. At the same time, Bianca said, “Go ahead, Rosie.”

“Yay!” Rosanna and Dawn immediately ran up the stairs, and the other girls except for Alex followed them. She would rather stay with the cute baby.

“So, who all’s coming today?” Bianca wanted to know. “I know Clare and Adam are, but not much else.”

Marisol took a moment to go over the guest list in her head. “Let’s see, Jake and Katie, Fiona and Imogen, Dave and Alli, Mo and Sadie…oh, and Dallas is coming later too with his new girlfriend.”

“She must be pretty great,” Drew threw in. “He’s been texting us nonstop about her.”

“Do we even know who she is?” Eli asked. “From what I can tell, he’s been really secretive about the whole thing.” Dallas had changed his Facerange status to “in a relationship” a few months ago, but he hadn’t tagged anyone or posted any photos with a girl. At one point, Eli had briefly wondered if this new relationship was made up.

“No, he hasn’t told us her name,” Bianca said, furthering Eli’s suspicions. Drew and Bianca were some of Dallas’ closest friends. If they weren’t fully clued in, something had to be up.

Everyone stood there pondering this for a few seconds (except Alex, who didn’t even know who Dallas was and was more focused on Adrianna anyhow). Then Marisol decided there were more fun things to do right now than worry about Dallas’ love life, and she stepped forward. 

“Come on in.” She clapped her hands the way she used to at cheer practice and gestured for everyone to follow her further into the house. “Let’s get this party started!”


	2. Rosie and Dawn

The four friends sat around Eli and Marisol’s elegant dining room table, chatting happily over drinks. They had only been reunited for 15 minutes, but it already felt like they’d never been separated. They’d easily broken into the hangout as if no time had passed. In fact, Marisol would go as far as to say that whenever the four of them got together, it felt like they were back in high school.

Except, of course, they were now in their thirties with kids.

Right now, they were laughing about a story Eli was telling about his second-to-youngest daughter, Evie. “She literally would not go to sleep unless I told her a scary story,” he was saying. “It got to a point where I was having to write new ones every day. I always had to cram to get them done before her bedtime. I wrote a lot during my breaks at work.” He remembered those days well; carrying a notepad with him to the studio and beginning to jot down ideas (some of which came from whatever movie he had been working on at the time) as soon as he yelled the word CUT. He also spent a lot of evenings on the couch, cramming to get a story done in time. Marisol frequently told him he could just Google “scary stories”, but he insisted on writing them himself. Horror stories would mean a lot more to Evie coming from her dad than random people on the Internet.

“That’s dedication,” Drew remarked, reaching for what had to be his fifth cookie from the plate in front of him.

“It is,” Marisol agreed. She set her glass of wine down on a coaster. “She’s our only daughter who shares his interests, so he goes above and beyond.”

“In other words, she’s the favorite,” Bianca teased.

Eli just held his hands up defensively. “I don’t play favorites,” he insisted. “But it is nice to have a daughter to watch scary movies with instead of princess ones.” He eyed Marisol pointedly.

She just sighed. She had to admit, as concerning as it was sometimes to have an 8-year-old daughter who had skull bed sheets and was obsessed with vampires and heavy metal, she was glad Eli had a kid who was exactly like him. The other three girls—especially Dawn—took after her. Needless to say, the Lewis-Goldsworthys always separated for family movie nights. Eli and Evie went to one room to watch their scary movies (which Marisol just knew Eli spent the whole time picking apart), while Marisol cuddled up on the couch with Alex, Dawn, and Wilma as they enjoyed a happy princess movie.

“Rosie would always want us to tell her popular love stories,” Bianca threw in, gesturing to herself and Drew. “And use ourselves as the characters.”

“Yeah, let’s see, we’ve been Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, Ariel and Eric, Cinderella and Prince Charming, and…what was the other one, B?” Drew asked as he counted the stories with his fingers.

“Snow White and Prince Florian,” Bianca supplied.

“Ah. That’s right.”

“I thought his name was Ferdinand,” Eli commented.

Drew just shrugged. He’d never been much of an expert on fairy tales, but until he had a daughter, he hadn’t even known the prince from Snow White had a name.

“We did Cinderella the most,” Bianca added. “Except we changed it to where the prince searches for the only girl in the village who wears high tops.”

“A modern twist,” Eli observed, lifting his glass for a quick sip of Coca-Cola. “I like it.”

Bianca’s lips curled up into a proud, nostalgic smile. Rosanna was nine now and no longer needed tucked in, and Bianca sometimes found herself missing the fairytale days. Her personal favorite re-enactment was The Little Mermaid, because in that one, Rosie had a role to play as Melody.

She glanced over at the baby carriage next to her, where Adrianna lay sleeping peacefully. Maybe she would get to play Ariel again in a few years.

“Rosie’s a gem,” Marisol commented suddenly. “She’s like the perfect blend of the two of you.”

Drew and Bianca exchanged a look, and then they both laughed. “Yeah, we love her,” Bianca said.

“She’s pretty amazing,” Drew added with a smile.

“Your mom must be thrilled,” Eli noted, knowing how over-the-moon his own mother was about his four daughters.

“Oh, yeah,” Drew confirmed. “Our girls really are like daughters she never had. Of course, B already filled that role first.” He slid his arm around his wife’s shoulders. Bianca smiled through her blush.

“Rosie’s definitely a handful,” she added. “Especially in school. She brings home straight A’s, but she gives her teachers a hard time.”

“She’s the type of kid who raises her hand for every question,” Drew said. “And at our last meeting, her teacher told us she almost always challenges the questions in her math book.”

“Oh, I used to do that, too,” Eli said.

“Why am I not surprised?” Marisol quipped.

Eli looked at her innocently. “What? I mean, seriously, who just goes out and buys 75 apples?”

“Maybe they’re making a bunch of pies,” Marisol suggested.

Drew and Bianca laughed again. Eli just rolled his eyes.

“Anyway,” Bianca said, collecting herself. “She’s definitely a star student. She just talks a lot and gets in trouble.”

“Again, I repeat: a perfect blend.” Marisol raised her eyebrows teasingly.

“How’s Alex doing?” Bianca asked. “She’s gonna be starting Grade 6, yeah?”

“Yep,” Eli confirmed. “She’s doing great. She has a lot of friends, does well in school…she’s a good kid.”

“She is so sweet,” Bianca said. “I noticed she was really taken with Adrianna.” For a few minutes earlier, Alex had remained downstairs with the baby, but had since gone upstairs.

“Yeah, having three younger sisters, she’s good with babies,” Marisol said. “I kind of think she misses having one around.”

“We could always change that,” Eli joked.

“No thank you,” Marisol replied immediately.

The two couples spent the next several minutes sharing stories (and occasionally bragging) about their kids. Eli and Marisol talked about how Alex was the lead in her school play a couple months ago. Drew and Bianca discussed some of Rosie’s soccer adventures. They all took turns sharing their favorite memories of their kids, and then started getting into their favorite memories with each other—including the joint trip they’d taken to an amusement park four years earlier.

As they got deeper and deeper into their conversation, it became harder to believe that the two pairs had not been close in high school.

<><><><>  
Rosie had never seen so much pink in her life.

Dawn’s bedroom, along with being super big, was covered in pink. Her walls, her bed, even her TV, were all various shades of pink. Rosie knew Dawn was a girly-girl (they had been family friends for several years now), but now she was finding out just how much.

“Come on,” Dawn urged, gesturing for Rosie to follow her around the room. She complied, taking in the grandness of the place. The ceiling was very high above her head—she was pretty tall for her age, but standing here, she felt much closer to the ground. There was plenty of space on either side of the pink bed, which—she noticed with envy—had one of those brand new giant stuffed unicorns laying in the middle of it. Rosie asked her parents for one, but her mom said no as they were too expensive and she tended to get bored with new items pretty quickly. She was tempted to try and sweet-talk her dad into it sometime; after all, he had bought her several dolls and other toys against her mother’s wishes before. It probably wouldn’t be too long before she had a unicorn best friend of her own.  
The rest of the room was just as appealing. All of Dawn’s furniture was seemingly brand new and very high quality; her dresser especially looked like it had been pulled straight from a fairytale. Her walk-in closet was full of the latest fashion items. The hot pink TV, although muted, was playing a cheer-routine practice video. The golden floor was shining, and Rosie looked down as her feet sank into what had to be the softest pink rug ever.

She was in awe. As much as Rosie loved the cozy cottage she lived in, Uncle Eli and Aunt Marisol really had a dreamhouse.

Dawn jumped up onto her bed and patted the spot next to her. Rosie hopped up too and was taken aback when she found herself sinking into a pile of pink pillows. She struggled to sit up, brushing her dark curls away from her face.

“I am so glad I don’t have to share a room with Evie anymore,” Dawn said, leaning back against her headboard. “She kept trying to put creepy posters up everywhere.”

“I remember that,” Rosie said. She’d visited Dawn’s old house once a few years ago, and she remembered that half of her room was painted pink and the other half was painted black. She also remembered seeing a bunch of strange posters on Evie’s side of the room but posters of cute pop singers on Dawn’s. It was a weird contrast.

“I used to think you were lucky, not having a little sister,” Dawn said. “But, now that’s not true anymore.”

Rosie didn’t usually keep her mouth shut, but right now she simply had no response. Contrary to what a lot of people had predicted, she actually enjoyed having a baby sister. She’s been an only child for 8 years and she’d always wanted a sibling to play with. Sure, Adrianna waking everyone up in the middle of the night with her crying wasn’t the most fun thing ever, but the pure joy she expressed whenever Rosie brought her a toy or spoke to her made up for it.

“Anyway,” Dawn continued, folding her hands together with interest. “Are you dating anyone yet?”

Rosie just stared back at her, trying to figure out if she was serious. “Dating?” she repeated doubtfully. “I’m only going into Grade 4.”

“So? I’m going into Grade 5 and I already know a lot of people who are dating,” Dawn insisted. “I think it’d be fun.”

Rosie just shook her head. “I don’t really want to date. Plus, my parents say I’m not allowed to until I’m older.”

Dawn smirked. “Your parents really should not be giving relationship advice,” she said. “After all, I heard they started off with a PB&J.”

“A what?”

Dawn just shrugged. “I don’t know what it means, but I know it’s bad.”

Rosie rolled her eyes. She loved Dawn, but sometimes she truly had no idea what she was talking about. “My parents met when my dad helped my mom fix her jacket zipper,” she informed Dawn. “And then they fell in love.”

“Okay, whatever you say.” Dawn just stared at her TV screen, clearly not convinced.

Slightly annoyed, Rosie said, “Didn’t your parents meet when your dad wrote a play about his ex-girlfriend?”

Dawn grabbed her TV remote—which was also pink—from her bedside table and began flipping through the channels. “He cast Mom as the makeup artist,” she replied. “And then they fell in love and Dad forgot all about the other girl.” She flipped her hair nonchalantly.

“Wasn’t the other girl Aunt Clare?” Rosie asked.

“Yeeeppp.” Dawn settled on a random TV show. “Did you know she used to date Uncle Jake?”

Rosie immediately whipped around to face her friend. “Aren’t they siblings?” she asked, her mouth dropping open in both shock and disgust.

“Step-siblings. But apparently that didn’t stop them at the time.”

Rosie had no idea what to think about that. She’d always been under the impression that Aunt Clare and Uncle Jake were blood-related; not only did they look exactly alike, but no one had ever told her they were only steps. And now to find out that they apparently dated? …It was too weird to be true.

“How do you even know all this stuff?” she questioned, raising her eyebrows skeptically.

“I hear my parents talking,” Dawn said. “Whenever they say the word ‘Degrassi’, I stick around because I know I’m about to hear something good.”

Rosie crossed her arms and leaned back against the headboard as well, so that she and Dawn were now sitting parallel to each other. She supposed she couldn’t argue with that. She’d overheard her parents talking about their experiences at the Degrassi school many times, and she had to admit, it sounded like a pretty wild place.

“Degrassi is weird,” she declared.

“It totally is,” Dawn agreed.


	3. Fimogen

They had to be driving backwards.

Fiona glanced past the divider, trying to see out the front windshield. All of the buildings ahead of them looked achingly familiar, but she didn’t know whether it was because they’d passed them before or because they were all the same dull shade of gray. Fiona shook her head. It was 2030 and somehow architecture still wasn’t any more colorful.

“Are we almost there?” her daughter Elora whined from the seat behind her. “I have to pee.”

“Yeah, and I’m starting to feel icky,” Fiona’s wife Imogen added from her right. “I really shouldn’t have had that third breakfast burrito.”

“My legs are falling asleep!” this complaint came from their older daughter, Carmella. “When are we gonna get there?”

With a sigh, Fiona pushed the button beside her seat and watched as the glass divider in front of her slid down. The music that their driver Francis was playing flooded into the backseat, and Fiona heard Carmella groan. Carma hated music that “old people” listened to, such as Call Me Maybe and Rolling in the Deep.

“Hey, Francis,” Fiona called over the music. Without taking his eyes off the road, he quickly turned down the volume. “How much longer do we have to go?”

There was a pause as Francis presumably checked the ETA on the vehicle’s built-in GPS. “We should be there in about 20 minutes, Mrs. Coyne,” he replied.

She had to resist the urge to groan as she put the divider back up and leaned back against her seat. Fiona already wasn’t a big fan of car rides; they were pretty boring and—as someone who practically grew up in first class—definitely not the most comfortable mode of travel. But a somewhat lengthy car ride with her nauseated wife and two restless kids in the backseat…

It was her own personal bad place. Fiona loved her family with her heart and soul, but she could not wait to get to Eli’s house.

She reached under her seat for her purse and fished through the contents—wallet, keys, lipsticks from Marisol’s makeup line—until she found her phone. As she pulled it out, she slid open her messages and typed out a new one to Eli. The sound of her freshly manicured nails clacking against the screen was satisfying.

Fiona: we’re 20 minutes away. Save me some gelato?

Eli: you got it.

Eli: you have the cake?

Fiona: Affirmative.

Eli: awesome. And you guys didn’t bake it, right?

Fiona rolled her eyes. She and Imogen had wanted to contribute to the gathering meal-wise, but neither of them were good cooks and their chef, Ronaldo, had taken a couple days off to visit his family for the holiday. They’d settled on a store-bought cake, which was currently being guarded by Carmella in the backseat (she had to protect it both from the bumpy roads and her sweet-toothed 6-year-old sister). The goal was to avoid poisoning all of the guests…again. Fiona shuddered at the memory of her and Imogen’s lasagna ruining Eli’s 30th birthday party.

Fiona: We didn’t. Your intestines are safe.

She was about to slide her phone back into her bag when it buzzed once again.

Eli: so how’s Imogen?

Fiona looked over at her wife, who had her eyes closed as she clutched her baby bump. Imogen looked exhausted. She had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was tied into a loose, messy updo. She hadn’t slept well the previous night and she didn’t feel well right now, but to Fiona, she still looked absolutely beautiful.

Fiona: She’s alright. The second trimester’s been a little rough, though.

Eli: I feel that. Mare’s pregnancies have been rough too.

Fiona cracked a small smile. She remembered when Marisol was pregnant with Alex and Eli spammed Fiona and Imogen’s phones all day with confused, anxious texts. Or when Marisol was pregnant with Dawn and Dawn was apparently a major kicker. It hadn’t taken Fiona and Imogen long to learn that Marisol was intense when she was pregnant. They had found it both scary and amusing (more-so amusing when the normally composed Eli scrambled to meet her every need).

It wasn’t until they started having kids of their own that they began to understand. Although Imogen didn’t mind being pregnant, the whole process came with a lot of added stress. Doctor’s appointments, morning sickness, preparing to bring a whole new life into the world…it was overwhelming. Exciting (especially when it came to designing the nursery) but overwhelming.

This one was going to be their third baby, and they were definitely feeling the pressure. Not only was this Imogen’s toughest pregnancy so far, but they already had two other girls to look after. Fiona related to Eli on a deeper level now. Keeping track of two kids and trying to tend to her wife’s every need had left Fiona pretty scatterbrained. She’d almost locked her keys in the house before they left for Eli’s that day.

Eli: don’t worry though, you’ll feel better when the baby comes and you see she has my beautiful eyes.

This time, Fiona couldn’t help chuckling. Eli being their donor had actually started off as a joke suggestion, but the more the three of them plus Marisol discussed it, the more sense it made. Eli was their best friend, a consistent support system for the two of them since high school. He’d been a friend to Fiona when all of her other friends graduated before her and when her mother was put on house arrest. He’d been there for Imogen throughout her dad’s battle with dementia, and when Mr. Moreno passed away, Eli was on Fiona and Imogen’s doorstep as soon as possible. He was always there, no matter the circumstances. And he had been happy to do this favor for them.

Both Carmella and Elora had taken after him in the looks department, and Imogen was hoping this next one would look more like her. Their two girls, plus a couple of Eli and Marisol’s daughters, made for an illegal amount of people with Eli smirks.

Fiona: Yeah yeah, whatever :P. See you in a bit.

She discarded her phone and leaned back against her own seat with a deep breath. Soon they would be at the mansion. They just needed to get through the rest of this car ride first. Fiona closed her eyes, anticipating several minutes of peace and quiet.

“Mamaaaa,” Elora whined a split second later. “Will I have anyone to play with today?”

Without opening her eyes, Fiona replied, “Yes, Lori. Evie will be there.”

“What about Rosie?” Carmella threw in. She, Dawn, and Drew and Bianca’s daughter Rosanna were an inseparable trio at these gatherings.

“Yep, she’ll be there too,” Imogen piped up, also without opening her eyes. “It’s gonna be one big party.”

Despite their current lack of enthusiasm, Fiona and Imogen were really excited. Their daughters were going to get to have fun with their friends while they caught up with several people they hadn’t seen in a while. This would also be their first time seeing the new mansion. Fiona had requested pictures from Eli, but she’d received minimal as Marisol wanted to save the big reveal for a Canada Day house tour.

Fiona couldn’t help shaking her head. It had been years, but she still sometimes found it hard to believe that Eli Goldsworthy and Marisol Lewis had ended up together. Eli, the troubled goth kid who used to write plays demonizing his ex-girlfriend (which Fiona herself had directed), and Marisol, glamorous captain of the Power Squad and later school president to Fiona’s vice, had a family and a giant house together.

Degrassi really was a strange place.

<><><><>

Back at the mansion, the two present couples were busy catching up.

“You remember that Dead Hand concert?” Bianca asked Eli in amusement. The two of them were leaning up against the kitchen island.

“You mean the one where you got hammered?” Eli teased.

“Shhh!” Bianca snapped, jerking her head to where Adrianna lay happily in her baby carriage.

“What?” Eli asked innocently. “It’s not like she knows what that means.”

Bianca just rolled her eyes jokingly and shook her head. “Remember when Sav got pulled over?”

“Oh yeah, for stealing his parents’ car.” Eli glanced up at the chandelier above their heads, nostalgia in his emerald eyes.

“Oh, is that why it was? I couldn’t remember.” That end of that night was fuzzy for Bianca. All she remembered was hitching a ride from Sav Bhandari, them getting pulled over, and her aunt picking her up from the police station and yelling at her all the way home. She also remembered her aunt still lecturing her while she had a pounding headache and wasn’t very receptive. But the actual details and specifics of the events after the concert were a blur.

The concert itself, however…that was a vivid memory. It was easily the most fun High School Bianca had had in a really long time. She’d been out with people different from her usual crowd--Sav, the school president who wouldn’t hurt a fly, Adam, the innocent jokester, and Eli, the weird new kid who drove a hearse—and they’d all clicked surprisingly well. It felt good to be away from her judgey aunt and the skeevy guys at the ravine for one night, and it felt even better to just kick back and get lost in the music. It was the first time she’d ever felt like a normal sixteen-year-old.  
She smiled at the image. It used to make her sad, thinking about the hurt and lonely girl she once was, but now it was all a thing of the past. She’d dropped her wild side, beat the odds, and was now living a beautiful, happy, and successful life with Drew and their two daughters. Even better, two of the people she’d gone to that concert with were now very important people in her life. Eli was one of her best friends and Adam was her brother-in-law.

“Whatever happened to Sav, anyway?” she questioned. She hadn’t heard much from or about him since he graduated, a year before she did. He never posted on Facerange anymore; not that anyone else did.

“Didn’t he date Ms. Oh?” Eli recalled.

“I thought that was just a rumor.”

Eli just shrugged. “Alli’s coming today,” he pointed out. “We can just ask her about him.”

Bianca nodded in agreement.

The two of them continued chatting away, reminiscing about their Degrassi days. It was always strange to remember that, despite being in the same grade, the two hadn’t had many significant interactions beyond that night until way after high school. The resident bad-girl-turned-good-girl and the outsider-goth-kid-turned-aspiring-director hadn’t crossed paths much, even with several friends in common. It wasn’t until Fiona and Imogen’s wedding several years ago that they’d really connected. As adults, they’d come to find that they had both been going through shit junior year, and that it took falling in love for both of them to soften their hearts and turn things around.

Several feet over, Drew and Marisol were having a conversation of their own. “So, did you just, like, teach her everything you know?” Drew asked, referring to Dawn.

“No,” Marisol insisted. “She just naturally takes after me.” She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows proudly.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Drew remarked. “I keep expecting her to tell me off even when I haven’t said anything.”

Marisol laughed. Unlike Bianca and Eli, Drew and Marisol had been sort-of-friends at one point in high school. When Drew dated Katie, he and Marisol had come to tolerate and even somewhat like each other for her sake. They’d still had their moments of wanting to strangle each other, but they’d also had a lot of fun together. Going to waterparks with Katie and spraying each other with water, pranking each other at Jake’s cabin over the summer, movie nights in Drew’s basement where the three of them huddled up under blankets together.

They’d all grown apart after Drew and Katie split, but Drew and Marisol had reconnected at Fiona and Imogen’s wedding. Now them plus Bianca and Eli were a tight foursome. They talked all the time and even used to go on trips together before their careers blew up. Bianca and Marisol would sit together, sipping wine and gossiping, while Drew and Eli would scramble to keep the girls under control.  
It was amazing how quickly people could bond when high school cliques and labels weren’t getting in the way.

“Mom!” Dawn’s voice hollered as footsteps thundered down the stairs. Marisol looked up to see Dawn running into the kitchen, followed closely behind by Rosie. “When is Carma gonna get here?”

“I don’t know, sweetheart,” she replied. “Ask Daddy; he might know.”

Without hesitation, Dawn ran over to Eli and interrupted his conversation with Bianca to pose her question. In the meantime, Rosie stuck with Drew and Marisol.

“Dad, can I get a Megacorn?” she asked Drew.

“A what?” He seemed baffled.

“It’s a stuffed animal,” Marisol threw in. “A giant stuffed unicorn. Dawn has one.”

“Oh.” Drew looked at Rosie, who was flashing a big, hopeful smile. Marisol couldn’t help noticing that she looked exactly like Drew when she did that. “Uh, yeah, I guess. Sure.”

“Yay!” Rosie clapped excitedly.

Dawn bounded back over at that moment with some information. “Carma’s gonna be here in 5 minutes,” she informed Rosie. “You wanna go see the pool?”

“Yeah!”

Rosie and Dawn linked hands and then skipped off toward the back hallway, gone as quickly as they’d come. Drew and Marisol watched after them in amusement.

“Who would’ve thought our kids would be best friends one day?” Drew remarked.

Marisol shook her head. “Forget the kids--who would’ve thought we would be friends one day?” she quipped.

“Yeah, good point.” Drew rubbed his chin thoughtfully as something occurred to him. “Are we ever gonna tell the kids about that date we went on?”

“I don’t plan on it.”

They both took a moment to shudder at the memory. At the beginning of junior year, Drew and Marisol had gone a disastrous date at The Dot, during which they had not connected at all. Marisol cringed thinking about how she tried extra hard to impress Drew; even going as far as to order the exact same (disgusting) meal as him. And Drew cringed thinking about how he had just gone out with her to try and get over Alli Bhandari.

No, that was definitely not a story they needed to be sharing with their kids. Especially since Dawn and Rosie might get the incorrect idea that they could’ve been sisters.

“You know, those Megacorns are expensive,” Marisol informed Drew as a subject-change.

“Really?” He seemed surprised. “How much?”

Marisol hesitated, and then leaned forward to whisper the number into his ear.

“Oh, hell no.”

Up in her bedroom, Alex was sitting in front of her pet bunny Giselle’s cage, relishing the few minutes of peace before the party took over the rest of her day.

People coming to her house always made her anxious. Her home was her safe space, the one place where she felt completely comfortable, and other people coming over felt like an intrusion. She liked everyone who would be visiting today, especially her godmother, Katie, and she appreciated how most of them tried to make conversation with her. But she wasn’t ready for a big gathering at all. There would be too much noise, too much stimulation, too much potential for awkward social situations. Her stomach filled with dread as she thought about it. She was definitely going to be drained and overwhelmed by the end of the night.

She petted Giselle gently, trying to calm her nerves. She really wished she could stay up in her room all night—she’d seen the cute new baby and she was satisfied—but her parents wouldn’t let her. They said she needed to socialize and help watch after the younger ones.

The one silver lining was that a certain someone was coming. A certain someone by the name of Jason Martin. Alex blushed just thinking about him. He was one year older than her, super cute, and easily the only person she’d ever been romantically interested in. They'd spent some time together in the past, and although their interactions could be awkward, they also made her glow. Him coming today somehow made her less nervous and more nervous at the same time. 

Butterflies flooded her stomach as she thought about the two of them watching the younger kids together. They could talk, bond, maybe exchange phone numbers at the end of it. They could become best friends and maybe even something more. She could have a real boyfriend.

The idea was enough to motivate Alex to go downstairs. But, of course, Jason needed to get there first.


	4. Jatie

They were running late.

They always ran late. In a house with three young boys, there was no such thing as being on time. Katie had learned that the hard way. No matter how early she woke the kids up, or how many lunches she packed the night before, or how many hours they left the house in advance, they were always scrambling to be somewhere. Over the years, they had missed 2 flights, one wedding, and shown up late to about a thousand-and-one gatherings. Katie and Jake had also gotten to know the school’s attendance workers a little too well.

For the Martins, there was always something standing in the way of punctuality: a missing cleat, someone forgetting to pack their bags, general messing around. Today, it was everyone oversleeping.  
“Did you remember to fill the cooler?” Katie asked, swinging open the refrigerator door. She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten to set the alarm. She was usually so on top of things.

“Yep,” Jake replied casually as he made laps around the kitchen. Because he was still in his socks, he was basically sliding across the floor. He was gathering all of the snacks and dishes they had prepared for the party and stacking them on the table. The containers formed a neat, proportional pyramid. He knew there was a time crunch, but the architect in him wanted there to be some structure.

“Great, throw this in.” Without warning, Katie tossed a cold water bottle in his direction. Jake barely caught it and placed it in the open cooler sitting in the chair next to him.

“And all the games are in the car?” Katie asked. They were responsible for bringing cornhole, Twister, and a few board games to the event. The activities were mostly for the adults, since the kids would have plenty to keep themselves busy with at the mansion (plus, most of their games were virtual now, anyway).

“Yes.”

“And you labeled the desserts clearly, right?” Katie turned to face her husband and almost crashed into him as he was now standing right behind her.

“Yes,” he said for the third time, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Red tape equals ‘off limits to kids’.”

“Is this what our lives have come to?” Katie said, both amused and annoyed. “Labeling weed versus non-weed brownies with tape?”

“What’s wrong with that?” Jake asked, and his easy smile made her laugh. She leaned into him and he wrapped his arms around her, the same gentle way he always did. Their embraces were cozy; the two of them fitting perfectly together. Katie smiled, instantly feeling better. If she had to be fashionably late, there was no one she would rather do it with than Jake.

Besides, today they had somewhat of a grace period. Marisol was planning to conduct a house tour once everyone arrived, but Katie and Jake didn’t need to be there for that since they’d already seen the mansion on FaceTime. Despite Marisol and Eli’s insistence that they weren’t going to give any sneak peeks, Marisol hadn’t been able to resist calling her best friend the second they moved in. Katie and Jake had since been instructed to act like they’d never seen the place before. It probably wouldn’t be too hard, since seeing something on a phone screen and in person were two very different things.  
From what they had seen, though, it really was a beautiful home. Lavish exterior, giant pool, tennis courts, theatre, gym, sparkling floors and countertops. It was exactly what Katie would have pictured a “dream house” to be. But as nice as it was, it was too luxurious for Katie and Jake. Definitely a cool place to visit, but for a long-term living situation, they much preferred their modest log-cabin style home. Built by Jake himself, it was sometimes referred to as “the house that Jake built.” They could definitely have something more, especially with Katie as a prominent TV reporter from Stanford, but they didn’t want more. Their life was perfect just the way it was.

“Heads up!”

Katie and Jake barely had time to react before a soccer ball came flying at them. They quickly pulled apart, and the ball smacked against one of the cabinets, barely missing Katie’s face on the return.

“Hey, guys, chill!” Jake ordered, as their younger two terrors, Zack and Brian, thundered into the kitchen after the ball. Despite the fact that he was yelling, his voice sounded just as calm as it always did. In 20 years together, 13 of which were spent in marriage and 12 of which were spent with children, Katie had never seen him genuinely mad.

“How many times have we told you, no ball playing in the house?” Katie demanded, snatching the ball from off of the floor before they could get to it. She tossed it up and down a couple of times for nostalgia’s sake, and then swept it under her shoulder when Zack tried to steal it back. “Go get your brother,” she ordered, before he could argue. “We need to get going.”

“But, Mom!” Zack and Brian whined at the same time.

“No buts, go!” Katie insisted, pointing toward the staircase. With a couple last-second complaints from Zack, the two reluctantly went to go find Jason.

Again, Katie was both annoyed and amused. With an exaggerated groan, she stalked back over to Jake. “How did we end up with two little monsters?” she asked, sinking into his arms once again.

“Hey, they got their soccer genes from you,” Jake pointed out innocently. “Jason takes after me, and he’s the good one.”

Katie laughed in defeat. Their oldest son, Jason, was practically an angel. He was fairly shy, but also laidback and sweet, as well as a model student. He brought home straight As (except for gym, but Katie and Jake didn’t really count that), was always receiving praise from his teachers, and had a good attendance record as he’d started carpooling with a friend after his young brothers consistently made him late. On top of that, he was very polite, respectful, and well-behaved. He was, frankly, an easy kid. Katie and Jake had never had to ground him or anything.

Zack and Brian, however, were more a challenge. Zack was a huge troublemaker, practically inseparable from mischief. He was seven years old and was always bouncing off the walls or saying something inappropriate. Katie and Jake had grounded him too many times to count, usually when the school called to inform them of pranks he had pulled during class. He was definitely a good kid at heart, just…a handful.

Brian was a similar story. He was only four, but he and Zack were already partners in crime. Jason and Zack weren’t particularly close, due to Jason’s “goody-two-shoes” nature, so when Brian was born, Zack had made it his mission to make sure his little brother was someone he could hang out with. And it worked. Luckily, the two of them had both inherited Katie’s athletic abilities, so they had something to help them blow off their steam. She just wished they would keep it outside.

“I think today will be good for the kids,” she said into Jake’s shoulder. “They’ll get a chance to run around, hang out with people they haven’t seen in a while.”

“Yep,” Jake agreed. “The only thing we have to worry about is keeping them away from the red-taped brownies.”

Katie pulled away slightly, considering. “What are we gonna tell them if they ask why they can’t eat those?”

“‘They’re not good for kids,’” Jake supplied.  
<><><><>  
Up in his bedroom, Jason sat on the floor and petted the family bulldog, Wilder. Wilder’s eyes were so big and always looked sad, regardless of whether or not he was actually upset. Well, today he certainly would be. The whole family was leaving and wouldn’t be back until after dark.

Wilder whimpered slightly and pawed Jason’s cheek. It definitely seemed like he knew something was up. Jason frowned. He hated leaving the dog alone, even if it was just for half a day. But when he asked his mom about bringing Wilder along with them, she’d just said Aunt Marisol would not be happy with them bringing a furry, drooling mutt into the new mansion.

“Jason! Hurry up!” Zack yelled, pounding on his door. A second wave of pounding immediately joined in, and Jason gathered that Brian was there as well. “Mom said to get your butt down here or you’re in big trouble!”

“That’s not what I said,” their mother’s voice flooded in from downstairs. A little louder, she said, “Jace, we do need to get going, though. Make sure you have everything!”

Jason sighed and brought himself to a standing position. Wilder immediately stood, too, and Jason knelt down to give him one last scratch on the head. “Goodbye, buddy. We’ll be back later tonight, I promise.”

He grabbed his backpack—which contained games, books, and snacks for the road—and swung it over his shoulder. Then he exited his room and met the rest of the family downstairs.

His mom was already ushering Zack and Brian outside (getting them into the car was often a difficult process), but his dad was still in the kitchen gathering materials. He looked up when he heard Jason’s footsteps.

“Hey, Jace, can you grab some of these?” he asked, gesturing to the containers on the table.

“Sure.” Jason walked over and picked up a couple items, then paused when he saw something strange on one of the brownie pans. “Um, why is there red tape on this one?”

His dad immediately whipped around. “Oh, uh, that’s not good for kids,” he said quickly, taking the pan from Jason’s grasp. “I’ll take that one.”

He turned away again, and Jason just stared after him doubtfully. He didn’t know who his father thought he was fooling. Jason was in Grade 7, after all.

They began loading things up into the car, which took longer than it should have since they had to walk down a flight of wooden stairs to get to the driveway. The stairs were a nice touch, but inconvenient when they had their hands full.

Finally, they found themselves on the road to Aunt Marisol’s. Jason was unfortunately stuck in the backseat with his brothers, who couldn’t hold still or keep quiet for longer than five seconds at a time. He’d gotten better at tuning them out over the years, but it was still hard to focus on reading when he was getting shoved and elbowed constantly. He tried his best, as his parents didn’t need him complaining or starting fights on top of all this ruckus.

Besides, this was good practice for what the rest of his day was going to be like. He would be the oldest kid at this gathering, with several kids under the age of 10 look after. His brothers were already a handful, but he knew from experience that some of the “mini Degrassians” (as his father put it) were just as wild. He would have to rely on every ounce of patience in his body to get through this event.  
Luckily, there was someone there who might be able to help with that: Aunt Marisol’s daughter, Alex. She was around his age and one of the nicest girls he knew. It was too bad they didn’t live closer to each other, since he had a feeling they could be good friends. They’d watched the younger kids together at several gatherings in the past and he really enjoyed talking to her. She was cool, funny, and her lips curled up into this cute smirk whenever she was happy.

Needless to say, he was excited to hang out with her.


	5. Matlingsworth

“Wow these cupcakes are amazing!” Fiona said in amazement as she took another bite of a chocolate cupcake with pink frosting. Her, Imogen, and the girls had just arrived and were immediately offered some cupcakes baked by Marisol and Alex.

“Thanks, Alex did most of the work. I just made sure she didn’t burn up the kitchen,” Marisol replied with pride for her oldest daughter. Alex had inherited both of her parents’ love for cooking and was always eager to help make breakfast, lunch, or dinner. She loved baking most of all and enjoyed baking brownies and cookies.

“Well maybe Immy and I need to hire Alex as our new chef,” Fiona offered jokingly. Imogen was taking a closer look at the frosting.

“I love how the purple smoothly transitions to pink, it’s like a magical sunset!” She remarked. Marisol just smiled at the other woman. In high school, to say that her and Imogen didn’t get along would be the understatement of the year. She hated her for being different and frequently made fun of her. Things got worse when they both liked Eli during the production of Love Roulette and competed for his affections. It was a miracle a fight never went down between them. Even after Eli had picked her and apologized to both of them for how he treated them, she still had wanted nothing to do with Imogen because she didn’t appreciate how she encouraged Eli to not take his meds and go off his rocker. However, during their senior year, they finally bonded over teasing Eli and things have been good ever since. Imogen along with Fiona was an amazing godmother to her daughters, especially Dawn.

“If only B’s cupcakes for Rosie’s birthday party last year looked as good,” Drew remarked dryly as his wife playfully elbowed him.

“Shut up, how many times are you going to bring that up at parties?” Bianca replied with narrowed eyes.

“Until the day I die,” he replied teasingly while she rolled her eyes. Bianca’s attempt at making vanilla cupcakes for Rosie notoriously went horrible as they ended up burnt with messy frosting, and Drew was never going to live down the fact that she insisted on making them herself.

“Momma, can I have another one?” Elora asked Fiona.

“If Marisol’s okay with it,” she replied with a shrug. Elora looked at her godmother expectantly.

“Of course, babe,” Marisol allowed eagerly. There were plenty of cupcakes to go around.

“Yay!” The younger Coyne-Moreno daughter replied as she took another cupcake. She then went outside to play with Evie, who Marisol could tell was going to have scraped knees by sunset. 

There was a ring on the doorbell, and she got up to answer it. It was Maya, Miles, and their five year old daughter Alana. “Hey!”

“Hey, Mare!” Maya greeted cheerfully back as they shared a hug. Maya had her hair pin straight and she had contacts in her eyes. Marisol then hugged Miles, and then finally kneeled down and hugged little Alana, who hugged back eagerly. The girl, who was a spitting image of Miles with Maya’s blue eyes, was very outgoing in contrast to Maya, who she remembered being very shy at that age. 

“We made fried chicken,” Miles proclaimed as he held up two big brown bags.

“The  _ chef _ at the supermarket made the fried chicken,” Maya corrected as the family stepped inside.

“You can’t let your husband pretend?” Miles asked as he went to put the food in the kitchen.

“Nope.”

“You wound me, Matlin,” he replied with feigned hurt in his voice.

“Is Katie here yet?” Maya asked as she grabbed a cupcake for her and Alana.

“Pfft no, you know your sister’s always late,” Marisol replied with shaking her head.

“I wonder what it could possibly be this time?” Maya asked.

* * *

“I can’t believe the trunk wasn’t completely closed!” Katie exclaimed in frustration as her and Jake looked at their trunk. They were on the side of their street and their bags of snacks and soda cans were laid out on the ground.

“I could have sworn that the trunk was closed tight…..,” Jake could only say in response.

Their three sons just simply looked at each other, wondering why these things kept happening to them.

* * *

“Alana! Do you want to play a game on my tablet?” Wilma asked sweetly as she held up her iPad Air 10 with a frog-themed case. 

“Yeah!” Alana replied enthusiastically as she walked to her best friend. The girls quickly found a couch to play with the tablet on.

“The girls are like two peas in a pod,” Maya remarked with a smile as she watched the girls. They were both dressed in girly summer outfits; She had put Alana in salmon overalls and a flowery yellow shirt underneath with yellow sneakers while Wilma was wearing a frilly blue blouse, a pink denim skirt, and pink shoes. While Wilma was showing her how to play Super Mario World on the tablet, she could barely move her neck due to the tight braids she got put in yesterday. Marisol had taken all four of her daughters to her cousin’s braiding shop yesterday, and they each had a different style that took hours to get done. Wilma’s hair, two Senegalese twists with curly ends, were crotched in and put into a high ponytail.

“Just like Katie and I, and Jason and Alex,” Marisol replied as she ate on a plate of cheddar cheese and sausage cubes. Maya leaned on the counter next to her in the kitchen as she ate on another cupcake. The Matlins and Lewises were pretty much family at this point, and all they needed to be legally bound together was their children marrying.

Which is why she, Marisol, and Katie all rooted for Jason and Alex to ultimately end up together.

“How do you think Alex and Jason are going to get along?” Maya asked.

“Like they always do, only this time I think my Alex actually has a crush on him,” Marisol suspected.

“Really?” Maya asked again excitedly.

“Are you guys seriously talking about pairing up two pre-teens again?” Miles piped in wearily. “They’re  _ kids _ , Maya.”

“No one is playing matchmaker, Miles. Marisol, Katie, and I just think Alex and Jason would be cute when they’re older because they’re so close and we’re all so close with each other,” Maya argued.

“Well, you ladies will be doing none of that with Alana, okay? She’s not allowed to date until she’s thirty,” Miles declared, and then he pointed at Maya’s small pregnant belly. “And neither is Misty.” She was currently pregnant with twins that she and Miles planned to name Milo and Mercedes.

The younger Matlin sister rolled her eyes. “Get over yourself.” She then pulled a piece of fried chicken out of the bag and started eating it. She and the twins were constantly hungry.

“How are you doing with the babies right now?” Marisol asked in concern while watching her friend eat.

“Fine,” Maya answered with a shrug, “I’m just always hungry.” She could eat a whole pizza if she wanted too, and some nights she would have if she didn’t have a five year old in the house. Granted, their chef Brandon could always make more but Alana was obsessed with Pizza Hut.

“I was like that with pretty much all of my pregnancies except Dawn. My princess was a dainty little eater even in the womb,” Marisol said. She was always a big eater, everyone knew that, but while she was pregnant she could eat a whole house.

“I’m still shocked that I’m actually going through all of this again,” Maya admitted. When her and Miles had gotten married, they agreed they only wanted one kid when they hit thirty. Yet here she was, five months pregnant with twins. It was a surprise, but her and Miles were finding it to be a welcome one. Even though he didn’t always show it, she knew her husband was excited to have more kids, especially another daughter. But this was going to be her last pregnancy for sure. 

“I said that every time I got pregnant again,” Marisol replied with a chuckle.

“I’ve never expected Marisol Lewis to push out four daughters over an eight year period,” Maya said.

“Blame their father and that annoying smirk of his. Every time he sneezes on me, suddenly I’m eight months pregnant,” Marisol remarked with a wry smile before both women laughed.

* * *

“Okay the trunk is definitely shut this time,” Jake said as he firmly made sure the door to the trunk was locked shut. Jason had already retreated back inside the car after helping him and Katie load the sodas and snacks back in the trunk.

“Good,” his wife replied tiredly as she made her back to the passenger side. She couldn’t believe that actually happened. It seemed like some misshapen  _ always _ had to happen when they had somewhere to go for the day. Her phone beeped.

**“Guess who’s here before you again ;),”** the text message from Maya came up and Katie sighed and rolled her eyes as Jake got back in the driver’s seat and started the car up again.

This wasn’t the first nor will it be the last time Maya and her family showed up to an event before her and Jake.


	6. Cladam and Bhandurner

Clare Edwards carefully surveyed the items she and Adam were bringing to the barbecue to make sure they were alright.

Adam Torres walked over and squeezed his wife’s shoulders in an attempt to get her to relax.

“Honey, the mashed potatoes look awesome, the bread rolls look great, and the bottles of ketchup, mustard, Mayo, and barbecue sauce look normal,” Adam reassured her as he picked up a bottle of hot sauce and put it in his backpack. Dave had insisted they bring it.

“I’m just making sure, Adam. I don’t want everyone to hate my mashed potatoes and make fun of it,” she expressed in worry. She knew she wasn’t a world class chef and Adam was actually a way better cook than she was.

“It’s just mashed potatoes. You can’t really screw that up. I’m sure everyone will love it,” Adam reasoned as he picked up the box of condiments and the bags of bread and went to pack them in their minivan. They lived in a quiet, contemporary home in the suburbs with their two kids and cat. As Clare picked up the container of mashed potatoes, she called out to their children. “Noah! Sophia! We’re getting ready to leave soon!”

“Okay Mama!” Sophia, their six-year-old daughter, replied excitedly as she practically jumped down their steps in her baby blue sundress and glittery blue sneakers. She almost looked exactly like her at that age, but she had Drew, her sperm donor’s, eyebrows, smile, and head shape. Sophia had her little backpack ready. “I got the games!” She announced proudly.

Clare smiled. Her and Adam were bringing classic card games such as Uno, Go Fish, and Old Maid so the kids could have something to play with. In addition to their own kids that they were bringing, Eli and Marisol told them there was going to be plenty other kids running around. “Good! We can’t forget those!” She replied. 

Noah, their nine and a half year old son, came down the steps soon after while playing a game on his Switch. Despite being adopted, she thought he still looked a bit like Adam with his brown hair, round face, and big blue eyes. He had adorable freckles too, and big black glasses. They adopted him seven years ago when they decided to finally have children. Noah was a friendly, nerdy kid who liked both video games and sports. He was on the basketball team and the gifted program at his school.

“I  _ can  _ bring my Switch, right Mom?” He asked her.

“As long as you got the balls and other games packed,” she answered while gesturing to his backpack. They were also bringing a football, a basketball, a frisbee, a dodgeball, and a jump rope.

“Okay, right on it,” Noah replied before getting the games to gather in a big bag. Clare grabbed her daughter’s hand and led her outside to where Adam was organizing the food in the back. Everything  _ had  _ to be organized so nothing would be out of place.

“Jace is going to be there, right?” Noah asked, referring to his step cousin. In another weird reality, they could have been adopted brothers.

Clare was well aware of how wild her love life had been in her teen years. She had dated K.C., who dumped her to date her best friend, Eli, who crashed his hearse into a wall to get her to stay with him, and Jake, who ended up being her step brother. Adam was the only normal relationship she had ever had and she was eternally grateful for that. She didn’t expect to fall in love with another one of her male best friends but she was glad because Adam brought her a gentleness and calmness to her life that she needed. He was sweet, tender, soft, and very attentive. At first, when she realized she liked him in their junior year, she was scared of how it would affect their friendship with Eli, but he was too busy wrapped up in Marisol to care. So they ended up on a blind date set up by Alli, and things were history. 

“Yup, and Kiaan and Neil as well,” Clare answered as her son got in the car. She was referring to Alli and Jenna’s sons who were nine and eight respectfully. 

“Awesome!” Noah replied.

When her and Adam got in the car, she looked back and gave her kids a stern look. “Now before we go, do either of you have to go to the bathroom before you go? I don’t want to be halfway on the road before one or both of you suddenly has to pee,” she warned.

“No Mom/Mommy!” Her kids answered at the same time. She smiled before turning back around and starting the car.

* * *

“I asked you boys if any of you had to go to the bathroom before we left!” Katie exclaimed in annoyance after Zack started complaining about how badly he had to pee.

“I didn’t have to go then!” Was her middle son’s response, and she groaned. 

“Jake, pull over,” she commanded her husband. He blew a raspberry before complying, pulling over on the side of the road where there were many trees and bushes. Zack unbuckled himself before getting out of the car. He went by one of the bushes and started peeing. There were a few minutes of awkward silence.

When Zack got back in the car, Brian spoke up.

“Mommy, Daddy, I have to go poop….”

* * *

“This is such a beautiful house!” Alli commented in awe as her and Dave entered the mansion with their three children, Kiaan, Amani, and Josiah.

“Thank you, wait until you get the full house tour,” Marisol told her with a smile.

“Ooh, I’m excited! What do you think Dave?” Alli asked while carrying a bottle of rum. Dave was carrying a pack of coolers.

“That Eli wasn’t lying when he said he got the hook up,” Dave answered as he looked around impressed. Eli walked over and slapped his shoulder.

“Don’t worry my man, it gets even better,” he promised, enjoying his friend’s reaction. It wasn’t like Dave and Alli were living in a shack or anything, no they lived in a really fancy Spanish villa. But he knew him and Marisol really hit the jackpot with this beautiful mansion.

Dave shook his head as he laughed. “Bruh, I don’t think I can be any more amazed but I’m probably wrong.” He walked over and clasped hands with Drew.

“Amani, Evie and Elora are outside playing jump rope if you want to join them,” Marisol offered the only Bhandari-Turner daughter, who was seven years of age. She looked like Alli, with the same big brown eyes and long eyelashes. Her hair, a sign of her black heritage, was in kinky curls around her shoulders however.

“Okay,” the little girl replied happily as she went outside to join her friends, but not before grabbing a pretzel off the table.

“Are any boys here yet?” Kiaan, their oldest son at nine years of age, asked in boredom. He had Alli’s eyes but all of his other features were Dave’s.

“No, not yet but they’re probably on their way,” Eli answered. The boy’s disappointment was palpable as he went to sit down on one of the couches.

“Can I play?” Josiah, who was only three, asked shyly. He was a mixture of both his parents.

“I don’t think there’s anyone you can play with yet, little man,” Eli answered with a sad smile.

“Aww,” the little boy replied sadly before glumly joining his brother on the couch.

* * *

After a stop at a McDonald’s so Jake could take Brian to the bathroom, Katie was already in need of some alcohol. She hoped there was a lot of liquor by the time she and Jake arrived.

“Mom, can I have some McNuggets?” Zack asked in hope.

“No, there’s going to be plenty of food there at Godmom’s place,” Katie answered sharply, not having the time to deal with this.

“Katie, we have a problem,” she heard Jake call out to her. She looked out the saw and saw her husband dragging along their crying youngest son. 

“I want a Happy Meal!” Brian cried, and for the second time that day, Katie let out another groan but it was even louder.

“Maybe we should have just stopped at a gas station instead,” Jason remarked.


	7. Jonnor and Madie

Amani truly felt like the odd one out between her friends.

She was the only one dressed normal in her pretty red sundress and gold sandals. Evie was wearing a black shirt with creepy sparkly spiders on them, grey shorts, and black sneakers while Elora was wearing bunny ears on top of her red hair along with a pink tutu skirt. She found her friends weird but she liked them, though at least she had Sophia.

“It’s my turn now!” Elora declared after Evie got caught up in the rope. She handed her end of the rope to Evie as she got into position. She started bouncing excitedly as her and Evie began to chant a song. When she was ready, Elora jumped effortlessly into the game and got up to twenty before she was out.

“When can we start looking for snakes?” Evie asked in boredom.

“Ew, how about no?” Amani rejected, cringing at the thought. Snakes, bugs, spiders, and frogs were all creepy and icky yet Evie loved looking for them every time they were all outside and Elora often went along with her as an “adventure”. She didn’t understand. There was nothing fun about icky creatures.

“You’re no fun,” her friend replied, “There’s no games here, so what else are we going to do except play jump rope?”

“Patty cake!” She suggested.

“No,” both of her friends shot down and she pouted in response.

* * *

“So how was life on the road?” Marisol asked Jenna, who was holding her two year old son, Tyler, who was grabbing at the fruit tray on the table. The fruit tray, which was an array of strawberries, mango slices, kiwii slices, grapes, and pineapples slices with dip, was brought by Jenna and Connor.

“Most of the time it was fun, but other times it was hectic, especially with trying to parent two boys,” the singer responded while giving a dramatic sigh. “I miss being on vacation, but I also need a vacation from a vacation now, you know?” Her and Connor had gone on a big road trip across Canada for two weeks with their sons, and both were exhausted. But they decided to come to Marisol and Eli’s Canada Day celebration because they were good friends with the couple and because their own best friends were coming with their kids.

“I know the feeling,” Marisol laughed as she sipped on some more wine, “After our European cruise last year, Eli and I just wanted to sleep in for a whole week. Unfortunately there’s work.”

“Dave and I need a vacation, preferably with no kids. You guys got any suggestions?” Alli asked as she poured a glass of wine for herself before putting up some fruit on her plate.

“Vegas,” Bianca spoke up, “Drew and I went for our anniversary last year while leaving Rosie with Audra, and we did all kinds of fun stuff even though I was pregnant with Dria. Skydiving, clubbing, gambling, theme park hopping. We had this couple’s suite with the most amazing jacuzzi. We got to live quite sinfully,” she finished with a smirk.

Alli nodded as she pondered the idea. “Hmm, I’ll keep that mind. We need to go somewhere fun, as a break from both our boring careers!” 

If seventeen years ago, you told her that she would be laughing and sipping wine with Bianca DeSousa, Alli Bhandari would laugh in your face. It took her a long time to get over the fact that Bianca took her boyfriend Drew to the Boiler Room and helped him cheat on her, and the fight that came from that beef was legendary, but she eventually got over it. A lot of it was because she fell in love with Dave a few months later, and the other part of it was just that her relationship with Drew wasn’t important in the grand scheme of things anyway. They were  _ so  _ superficial as a couple looking back on it now, and she only liked him because he was a cute, popular jock. She was glad that being with Dave helped her grow as a woman even if they had plenty of hard times in their relationship. Now at thirty-six, they were married with three precious children and she couldn’t be more happier with the life they made for themselves. It was unexpected from what she wanted at 16, but life was full of unexpected outcomes. No one expected the school emo kid to end up with one of the most popular girls in school after all.

They all heard the front door open, and soon Clare came in with her daughter following behind her. “Clare/Clarebear!” Her and Jenna greeted at the same time as they both got up to excitedly hug their best friend.

“You guys!” Clare greeted back as they shared a group hug. When they broke apart, Alli focused her attention to Sophia. “You get bigger every time we see you,” she addressed the girl, who beamed proudly in response.

“Soon I’ll be a big girl!” Sophia proclaimed as she stood on her tippy toes for emphasis. “Where’s Amani?” She then asked as she looked around for her friend.

“Outside with the other girls. Do you want to join them?” Marisol asked as she gestured to the backyard. Sophia looked at her mother for permission, who nodded with her approval. “Yeah!” She cheered as she practically bolted out of the kitchen.

“So we brought mashed potatoes, condiments and bread rolls, I hope you guys enjoy it,” Clare said in hope as she put the food with the others. Marisol offered her wine, and she eagerly held out a glass for herself as Marisol poured it.

“It can’t be worse than the lasagna Fifi and I cooked for Eli’s birthday party that one year, or the spaghetti I cooked for Drew’s birthday party the other year…..or the apple pie I cooked for Fiona’s……,” Imogen reassured her, flushing pink in embarrassment at all of her bad cooking moments.

“Is everyone here?” Clare asked, looking around. There were already so many people.

“No. There’s Katie and Jake, Mo and Sadie, Dallas and….whoever he’s bringing,” Marisol replied as she before taking another sip.

“Nobody knows who his new girlfriend is?” Maya asked in confusion while sending a glance towards Bianca and Fiona, who then both looked at each other.

“He hasn’t told us,” Bianca answered with a shrug.

“He hasn’t told us either,” Fiona replied, “For some reason, he’s been really secretive about it.”

“Maybe she’s a supermodel,” Alli assumed.

“Or a troll from a dungeon,” Marisol joked as all the ladies in the room shared a laugh.

* * *

“Ma’am are you aware that you were going over the speed limit?” The officer asked her. Katie sighed. She was in such a rush to get to Marisol’s that she started speeding. Unfortunately, she happened to be speeding past a police car.

“No, officer. I’m sorry,” she apologized while Jake and the boys sat there in nervous silence.

The officer looked at everyone inside the car before responding. “I’m giving you a warning only because it’s a holiday. Move along and have a good day, ma’am.”

“Thank you, officer,” she told him in gratitude as the officer got back in his car. She continued driving, at a normal speed this time.

“That was a close one,” Jake remarked while letting out a relieved whistle.

Meanwhile she was wondering in dread what incident was going to happen next.

* * *

“So when are we allowed to barbecue?” Connor asked as all the men sat around in the living room, bored out of their minds. They all wanted to do something, but Eli forbade them to go anywhere but the living room or outside for now. Plus they were all hungry for some meat and other than the fried chicken, the salads and sandwiches weren’t enough.

“Until everyone gets here,” Eli answered while eating some of the seafood salad him and Marisol bought.

“Dallas told me he’s almost here,” Drew mentioned, “Now Jake…...I don’t know what’s going on with him.”

“Katie’s is what’s going on with him. They’re always running late because of her,” Mo grumbled. Everyone knew how much he still wasn’t Katie Matlin’s biggest fan after all these years even though he adored the godsons she gave him. He tolerated her most of the time because of Jake and also because his wife Sadie liked her.

“I wonder what it is this time. Busted tire?” Dave asked before groaning. “I hope I don’t have to wait until eight o'clock for some barbecue ribs….”

“Mare would kill Katie if she’s not here in an hour so you don’t have to worry about that,” Eli assured him as he knew his wife was starting to get late by her best friend’s tardiness. For some reason, Katie and Jake were late to everything: weddings, parties, anything. They were late to their stag parties, baby shower, wedding, and Katie even gave birth to Jason a week later than she was supposed to. It was mind boggling.

“Good, because I’m down for some burgers right now,” Mo replied. Then he looked at Drew. “Who is Dallas’ new girl?”

“Don’t know. He won’t tell me,” Drew answered, and he looked confused at the idea. “I don’t know why he’s so secretive about it. If he’s dating a troll from a dungeon somewhere, I don’t care.”

“Maybe he’s dating a hot supermodel and wants to hide her from us,” Adam suspected jokingly.

“Why would I want whatever hot supermodel he got when I’m already married to one?” Drew asked while folding his arms.

“Yeah, and one that will slit your throat in your sleep if you ever cheat on her,” Dave added, which caused most of the men in the room to laugh at Drew’s expense, and even he had to crack a smile.

* * *

She couldn’t believe she accidentally ran over an animal.

“Mommy, why did you hurt the squirrel?” Brian cried with tears flowing down his face as Katie and Jake looked at the remains of what used to be a squirrel on the side of the road. When she hit a bump, she immediately let out a curse as she pulled over. She was horrified to see what that bump was.

The scene in front of her was graphic, and she tried to make sure her sons didn’t see the poor body but Zack did and gleefully told his brothers to protest.

“Why are you crying you stupid baby? It’s just a dumb squirrel. Maybe we can bring it to Godmom and Goddad for barbecue,” her middle son suggested with an evil smile.

“Zack, not a word from you for the rest of the ride,” Katie warned.

“But Mom-”

“One more word and you’re going to be in time out for thirty minutes when we get there young man.”

The middle Martin son folded his arms and pouted in response.


	8. Jatie and Dallas

Katie was so relieved when she saw Marisol’s mansion villa, she wanted to cry.

“Alright boys, help me get the food,” she said as her and Jake stepped out of the car and headed to the back. 

Jake had quickly grabbed the edibles, Jason had taken the cooler, and Zack and Brian shared holding the bags of snacks. She had taken the tray of shrimp, chicken, and vegetable kebabs Jake had made. Jake had wanted to fry chicken for the event like he always did, but Maya and Miles insisted that it was their turn to bring (store-bought) fried chicken.

It still surprised her that Maya had not only gotten back together with Miles after university , but married him and had a child (soon to be three) with him. She never met Miles when he dated her sister in high school and she remembered Maya telling her about all the problems in their relationship. They broke up because Miles’ behavior had reminded her sister of her ex-boyfriend Cam and she didn’t feel safe. That alone made her hate this kid she never met. However her sister involved herself with Zig for a while, and he cheated on her. So she didn’t like Zig much either even though she put on a happy face for their prom. But they ultimately grew apart again and years later Maya reconnected with Miles. Her and Zig were still close friends though.

Did she like her brother-in-law? For the most part, yes. He was no longer a bad, troubled rich boy that caused Maya a lot of problems. The Miles she got to know was a friendly if snarky guy and he clearly thought the world of her sister. Maya had told her that while reconnecting with him, she finally opened up about her trauma to him and he was very understanding and even opened up to her about his own. They communicated better as adults, had a healthy relationship to show for it, and she was glad.

Because if Miles ever hurt her sister again, she was going to rip his spine out and feed it to him.

“Katiekins!” She heard Marisol yell in excitement before she was suddenly caught up in a tight hug. 

“Marebear,” she greeted back happily as she hugged her best friend back with her free arm. When they broke apart, Katie got a good look at Marisol. She dressed stylish as always with a yellow straw hat, a rose pink and lavender sundress, big gold bracelets, brown Michael Kors sunglasses, and brown gladiator heels. Her nails were long, coffin-shaped, and painted rose pink, lavender, and white with a floral print on each ring finger. Marisol’s hair was in brown goddess locs down her back.

“Don’t worry, you’re not the last person to arrive for once,” Marisol assured her with a dry smile as she went to greet Jake and her sons. “Jakey!” She said as she hugged Jake. She then turned her attention to her sons. “You boys are getting big! And look at you Jace, all tall and handsome,” she said to Jason, who smiled in pride.

“Thanks Godmom, I try,” her oldest replied. Compared to her insecurity at that age, Jason had his father’s confidence.

“Alex will be happy to know you’re here,” Marisol told him while shooting her a knowing glint.

“Really?” Jason asked in excitement. “Awesome!”

“Well come on guys, let’s bring all this food in the kitchen!” Marisol said as she led them all into the mansion.

* * *

  
As soon as she saw Aunt Katie’s jeep pull into the driveway, she felt her heart racing. Jason was here. 

Alex immediately left the comfort of her room and headed downstairs where her mom was leading Aunt Katie and Uncle Jake into the kitchen to put their food on the counter along with everyone else’s. Several guests were already eating due to being hungry.

“Hi everyone,” she addressed the crowd of people shyly, waving around. Her anxiety was rising at the amount of people in her home, and she hoped she was hiding it well. All of her parents’ friends said hi back and Aunt Katie went to hug her.

“There’s my beautiful goddaughter!” Her godmother greeted cheerfully as she pulled her into a tight embrace. When she pulled back, she gave her a warm smile. “How are you?” 

“Good,” she simply replied as Uncle Jake gave her a gentle squeeze on her shoulder. She looked over to Jason, and when he met her gaze she felt a knot in her stomach. Even in a blue plaid shirt and brown khaki shorts, he looked as handsome as always. 

“Hi Jace,” she greeted as normally as she could.

“Hey Alex, what’s up?” He asked enthusiastically as he approached her. He looked at the outfit she was wearing. “You look nice.”

For today, she decided to wear a pink halter dress with big white polka dots, white shorts underneath, and white gladiator sandals. Her goddess locs were curled at the ends with some strands pulled back, and she wore a pink rose clip. It was all to impress Jason, and her heart leaped at his compliment.

“Thank you,” she replied as her cheeks heated up.

“Why is there tape on that?” Wilma asked as she pointed to a container with red tape on it. Alex was curious herself.

“Daddy says they’re for big,  _ big _ kids only,” little Brian answered before either of his parents could.

“Yeah, what he said,” Uncle Jake agreed. All of the adults in the room collectively then shared a secretive look. That’s when it hit Alex on what the container with the red tape had. Weed.

“Oh,” her little sister replied with a shrug, not pressing the subject any further. She left the kitchen again with Alana right behind her to play more tablet games.

“Why don’t you kids eat something? We got plenty of food before the barbecuing starts. Just no heavy stuff until Dallas gets here,” Her mother offered while handing her some plates.

“Thanks Mama,” Alex accepted as she took a plate and passed it around to the other kids, who all took the plates eagerly. She fixed herself a small plate with a ham and cheese sandwich, cheese and sausage cubes, cookies, pineapple slices, and pretzels. She then poured herself a cup of iced tea and sat down at one of the tables. Jason sat down next to her with his turkey sandwich and chips. 

“So how do you think we’re going to keep watch over all these kids? There’s so many,” he said while looking around.

“I don’t know. Aunt Clare and Uncle Adam brought so many games that I think they’re all going to be busy,” she replied. There really were so many kids in the house right now, and she was anxious about how her and Jason were supposed to watch all of them. The eight to nine age group wouldn’t be so bad but all the ones below that…..

“That mine!” Tyler, Miss Jenna’s son screamed as he fought off Josiah, Miss Alli’s son, from his cupcake.

“No!” Josiah screamed back as he grabbed at the cupcake. Before either of their mothers could react, Tyler’s cupcake fell to the floor. Tyler then began to cry.

“Yeah, this probably isn’t going to be a fun time for us,” Jason said with a frown.

* * *

“Don’t move, you’re going to make the nail polish run,” Dawn warned Rosie as she painted her fingernails a sparkly red with the kiddie nail set her grandmom got her for her birthday. Her, Rosie, and Carmella were all in her room doing cute girly stuff. Rosie wanted red nails, to match the long red nails Aunt Bianca was currently wearing. The problem was that Rosie couldn’t sit still and it was annoying her.

“I’m trying,” Rosie replied as she did her best to remain still. It worked this time and Dawn was able to easily glide the red paint across each finger nail. They waited a few minutes, and the paint soon dried.

“Now it’s  _ my _ turn,” Carmella said excitedly as she scooted closer to Dawn on the bed. She held her fingernails out to get painted next. “Purple, please!”

“Of course,” Dawn accepted eagerly as she got the sparkly purple bottle. She then got to work painting her best friend’s nails. Unlike Rosie, Carma sat primly without struggling to move. The girls then used this as an opportunity to start gossiping.

“I heard that no one knows who Mr. Dallas is bringing to the party,” Carmella said.

“Is she a supermodel? A troll?” Rosie asked while raising an eyebrow.

“Maybe she’s a princess from another country,” Dawn guessed. But inside she was melting at the idea of meeting a real princess. She always fancied herself as one, and Daddy liked calling her his little princess or his little majesty.

“I doubt that. Then Mom would know because granddad is a diplomat,” Carmella rejected. Her and Elora called Aunt Fiona “Mom” and Aunt Imogen “Mama”. Dawn herself usually referred to her godmothers by using the word in front of both their names, but sometimes she used “Godmother”.

“Well she has to be someone special if he’s hiding her from everyone until today,” Dawn reasoned. She then looked at Rosie. “How come he hasn’t told Uncle Drew?” She asked her other best friend as she finished painting the nails on Carma’s left hand. She then got started on the right hand.

“Because apparently my dad is a blabber mouth. He told everyone Mom was pregnant with me before the announcement dinner because he was that excited to be a dad,” Rosie answered with a shrug.

“Well whoever she is, I hope she’s pretty,” Dawn replied.

She liked looking at pretty girls.

* * *

“How’s my little chicken cutlet doing?” Katie asked Maya teasingly as she picked up a tuna sandwich to eat. She was surprised at how much of a variety of sandwiches Marisol and Eli provided. There was ham and cheese, turkey and cheese, grilled chicken, tuna, and pork. There was also potato salad, macaroni salad, tuna salad, seafood salad, and pasta salad. Then there were cheese and sausage trays, veggie trays, fruit trays, poutines, pretzels, and chips. Marisol had personally cooked collard greens, string beans, corn on the cob, and baked macaroni and cheese. Combined with the food everyone brought, her friend and her family were going to have food in the house for weeks. 

Maya glared playfully at her. “ **Stop** calling me that,” she replied.

Katie had only laughed in response as she ate her sandwich. Maya hated it whenever she referenced that time years ago when Maya put chicken cutlets in her bra to look “mature”. 

“I’m your sister. I’m going to tease you about that for the rest of your life even if you are thirty-four,” Katie said.

“I may have put chicken in my bra but at least I didn’t go over Drew’s house thinking he wanted sex when he just wanted me to meet his mother,” Maya fired back.

“Hey, Marisol put that into my head! That wasn’t completely my fault!” Katie argued, flushing red at the embarrassing memory. 

“What about when Mom caught you on top of Jake one night?” Maya brought up with a smirk.

“We don’t talk about that night,” she grumbled. She was grounded for a week after that and had to leave her door open whenever Jake was over.

“Miles and I have never been caught, never,” Maya bragged, which made Katie roll her eyes.

“Well now I’m going to put it out in the universe that you two do get caught someday, hopefully soon.”

“You’re a cow.”

“And you are an imp.”

* * *

Drew was sipping on his beer and talking with Mo about football when he finally got a text from Dallas. 

**“I’m about to pull up in fifteen minutes,”** read the text message.

“Everyone Dallas and his new girlfriend is about to show up!” Drew announced loudly over the loud chatter. All the adults in the room froze and Adam turned the music off. This was an arrival everybody needed to see. 

For the next fifteen minutes, there was only light whispering as all of the guests conspired about who the hockey player’s new puck bunny was. Drew suspected it was a cheerleader or bar hopper. It wouldn’t surprise him considering how popular his best friend was among the ladies. He just hoped she wasn’t hideous, scary, or dumb as hell like his last three girlfriends.

When the doorbell rang, Drew braced himself as he took one for the team and answered it. He was almost scared to see who it was. 

As he opened the door, his jaw dropped and his eyes bugged out of his sockets.

All of the guesses in the world could not prepare him for Dallas to be with Rocky,  _ Becky Baker _ , and a boy that looked just like her on the other side of the door.

Becky was holding the nastiest looking jello dish he had ever seen in his life.


End file.
